


Techno and Phil's Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day

by heartemoji



Category: Dream SMP - Fandom
Genre: Blood and Gore, Canon Temporary Character Death, Canon-Typical Violence, Execution, Gen, Philza Angst, Technoblade angst, but that happens when ur executed, unfortunately they are sad
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-21
Updated: 2020-12-21
Packaged: 2021-03-10 23:20:11
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,925
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28225260
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/heartemoji/pseuds/heartemoji
Summary: Basically a novelization of the 12/16 streams, with added flair and also Phil goes to Logstedshire.
Relationships: Philza & Technoblade (Dream SMP)
Comments: 7
Kudos: 94





	Techno and Phil's Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day

**Author's Note:**

> Techno threatened Quackity's teeth and I kind of went feral with this. Also be warned there's blood and a bit of gore concerning Big Q's pickaxe-related dentistry accident.

“Techno!” Phil’s horrified scream pierced through the air, cutting past every other sound.

Techno couldn’t spare Phil even a glance- it was far, far too late for that- he could only hope that Phil wouldn’t be foolish enough to jump down and risk his own life for Techno’s. He looked down instead, away from his impending death, and at his hands clenched so hard he drew blood.

There was a single moment of excruciating pain at the top of his head.

The totem **burned** in his hand.

And the day had started so well, too.

\-------------------

The day started horribly- actually.

A structure had been set up on the large empty dock opposite of Phil’s house- which should have been his first bad omen. It replaced the war crimes sign, and looked scarily like a guillotine, except it had an anvil placed atop a redstone contraption over a human-sized cage.

As soon as Phil returned to his house after inspecting the device someone picked up his door bell and shook the life out of it.

“Yes? Hello- come in- Jesus Christ.” Phil yanked the door open. “You can ring it once I’m right here-”

Quackity, Tubbo, Fundy, and Ranboo stood in his doorway, the former three covered in what looked like blood, smiling too widely at him.

“What’s with the getups?” He asked them.

“They were cooking.” Ranboo supplied after a beat.

“Yeah- we were cooking” The others agreed in unison.

A pit opened in Phil’s stomach but he ushered them in regardless, it was only hospitable to invite in the leadership of the country he lived in- and he needed to play nice. “Come in, it’s raining.”

Quackity jumped directly into why the four of them crowded in Phil’s living room. “We have a simple request: We’re looking for Technoblade. I don’t think you should ask why.”

“You don’t think I should ask any questions?” Phil responded, incredulously.

“At the request of the president.” Quackity motioned towards Tubbo. “We demand that you tell us where Technoblade is.”

His answer didn’t require a second of thought. “I’m not going to tell you.”

“Philza just tell us, this is for the country. This isn’t a request- this is a demand.” Quackity stepped towards Phil, into his personal space.

“I’m not going to snitch on Techno.”

Quackity shrugged. “Okay, we can do this the hard way or the easy way.”

“What’s the hard way?” Phil challenged.

“Alright, fellas, look through his fucking things.”

At Quackity’s command the others broke their huddle around Phil and started ransacking his house.

“Aw- come on-” He tried to block them with his body but they stepped around him and ignored him.

There was nothing they could find to incriminate him in the house except the compass. Which he had taken out of his ender chest the previous day to move things easier between his bases. Phil swore internally while the others broke his decor and shifted through his storage.

“Hey Big Q look what I found.” Tubbo triumphantly held up Techno’s compass- the one thing in his many, many barrels that Phil needed to keep hidden.

“Shit.” Phil whispered.

Quackity took the compass from Tubbo and flipped it around to see Techno’s name on the back. “Philza- what the fuck is this?”

“It’s nothing at all.” His reassurance did nothing to put a damper on Quackity’s smile.

“It’s called Techno’s compass.” The others cheered. “Why are you carrying this around, Philza?”

“It- it- it’s nothing.” Phil stammered. “It just brings you to a potato farm somewhere.”

Quackity pocketed the compass, a wicked smile on his face. “Philza, never forget that you were uncooperative with us today. Mr. President, tell him.”

Tubbo stepped forward from his place behind Quackity. “This is considered treason… and you’ll be put under house arrest.”

Phil laughed in shock. “Okay-”

Ranboo stepped forward and handed him an ankle monitor of all things.

“You have to put that on.” Quackity stated.

Phil looked down at the monitor, opened and ready for him to slap it on. “You guys sure were prepared, huh?”

“Let’s get out of here, boys.” Quackity swung open Phil’s door and ushered them out without letting any of the others respond. “If you leave, we’ll know.”

“I’m sorry grandpa, but you have to put that on.” Fundy said sheepishly. “Still love you, though.”

A beat passed while he stuck the ankle monitor on his foot. “You’re fucking dead to me.”

“Oh.” Fundy’s ears drooped against his head.

Phil pointedly ignored Fundy and the others while they left the house. But, as soon as they were gone Phil took out his communicator- which they were too stupid to take, and alerted Techno of them immediately.

\-------------------

The bee farm Phil built worked wonders and Techno couldn’t help but admire the worker bees as they shuffled in and out of their homes. He also had twice as much honey as he ended up needing, but Phil didn’t do anything by halves and Techno was content to let the bees continue to do their things.

At the same time the turtles were… he had so many scutes, Techno would need to cull the population soon to halt overcrowding them. Though he hadn’t figured out how, not without slaughtering them en masse in front of Toby; but the turtles were fine, healthy, if nothing else.

Techno checked checking on the farms off his to-do list and whipped out his communicator to complete the last one: meet up with Phil.

_[Ph1LzA whispers to you: they know where you are. get ready old friend]_

Immediately Techno’s mind went to the army Dream warned him about the day previously, but he needed confirmation.

_[You whisper to Ph1LzA: ???_  
_Ph1LzA whispers to you: they found the compass]_

The compass that led directly to Techno’s home. Techno froze as the news set in; there were people coming after him right then and they knew exactly where he was.

_[You whisper to Ph1LzA: WHO]_

Instinct told Techno to stay and defend his house, his valuables, and his bees, and Techno would be inclined to listen to it if he was at all prepared for a siege. He had his armor and his weapons but he owned no potions to help him- they’d all expired since his retirement. If the people after him were strong enough that Dream had urged him to get a totem of undying then they would come prepared to kill someone with his history.

_[Ph1LzA whispers to you: quackity and a gang]_

Techno relaxed at that- every L’Manburgian was incompetent at fighting at best. He had enough time to make potions to handle people of their capabilities.

_[Ph1LzA whispers to you: they have netherite]_

That sent him into a frenzy- immediately he started looking for his potion materials and thanked the gods that potions could be made quickly and that Techno had moved across an ocean.

_[Ph1LzA whispers to you: quackity, ranboo, tubbo, fundy_  
_Ph1LzA whispers to you: hurry, they just left]_

In the middle of his potion-making haze someone outside said ‘knock knock’.

Techno jumped despite recognizing Ghostbur’s voice. “Come in, I guess.”

Ghostbur phased through the door. “I was coming through the area and-”

“I’m a little bit busy right now Ghostbur!”

“Oh, what are you doing- are you making potions?”

“Yes, there’s like four guys and they’re coming to kill me and I need to be ready.”

“I can help you make potions!”

Techno watched as Ghostbur reached down to grab some sugar, only for his hand to pass directly through it. “Usually this works, when I’m making invis potions.”

“Okay- okay, Ghostbur you need to get out of here, I don’t know what they’d do to you if they see you.” Techno urged him out of the second story doors.

Ghostbur gasped once he got out the doors. “Look, Techno, it’s a sign!”

Techno peered outside behind him and spotted a blue sheep. “Great, Ghostbur I need you to take that sheep and get as far away as possible.”

“Do you have a lead?”

Techno opened his chest and pulled a lead and and threw it at Ghostbur who caught it in his barely corporeal hands. He placed gunpowder in all of his potions and watched Ghostbur run towards the blue sheep that Techno was pretty sure Ghostbur dyed himself.

The potions finished cooking just after Techno looked out the window to see Ghostbur talking to four heavily armoured people a hundred feet away from his house.

“Oh my god.” Techno threw the potions onto his potion belt and poked his head outside the door.

They were coming closer to his house and had very clearly spotted him. Ghostbur sprinted ahead of them and cheerily waved.

“Hi Techno, they said they’ve come to kill you.”

“Fantastic.”

“Technoblade.” Quackity, ahead of the rest of the pack, addressed him first. “We’ve come to hold you accountable for your crimes against L’Manburg.”

“And- and what crimes would those be?” Techno fidgeted with his sheathed sword.

“You summoned withers everywhere.” Tubbo supplied.

“That… was the old Technoblade, I’m retired now, I’m peaceful.”

“We have to take you in, Techno.” Quackity urged. “You have to pay for your crimes.”

“I think I’ll pass, I’ve… repented, I’m not gonna attack L’Manburg at all.”

Quackity pulled out his diamond axe. “Okay, it’s either going to be the easy way or the hard way. We’re going to fuck you up, and you’re going to come with us.”

Techno realized instantly that their minds had already been made up- they wanted his blood spilled here or wherever his trial was going to be. His guilt, if nothing else, was undeniable if he were to go to court.

“If there’s no other way..” Techno unsheathed his sword in an instant. “I choose blood!”

With his left hand he threw down four potions and launched himself at the nearest person- Tubbo. Techno countered the kid’s weak axe swing and rapped his hand with the flat of his blade. Tubbo dropped the axe on reflex, letting Techno pull up his sword and slam the pommel against Tubbo’s forehead, dazing him and knocking him to the ground instantly.

The others shouted for their fallen comrade, letting Techno know that Fundy was directly behind him. He spun and held his blade in a guarding position in time to see Fundy swing an axe down at him. Techno leapt to the side with aid from the potion of swiftness and repositioned himself so he could see his three enemies.

Some weird kid Techno recognized from the last time he entered L’Manburg held back a few feet behind Fundy, apprehension clear in his sloppy stance. Quackity appeared to be running away.

Fundy jumped at Techno, his vulpine legs granted him far more distance than a human could achieve and he landed practically on top of Techno. He side stepped Fundy’s leap and blocked the sweeping attack Fundy followed up with. They both backed up and reorientated after Fundy’s attack, and the breather allowed Techno to pull out his own axe and retaliate.

He started with a very telegraphed downward swing that Fundy deflected and followed it with a sweep across Fundy’s legs that toppled the hybrid to the ground.

“Stop!” Quackity shouted. “Or the horse fucking dies!”

Techno paused before he knocked Fundy out with the same move he used on Tubbo. He looked up to see Quackity pulling on Carl’s lead and resting his axe on the horse’s neck.

“Hey, woah, woah!” Techno backpedaled away from Fundy.

“You try anything and Carl fucking dies.”

“Leave the horse out of it, the horse is innocent!”

“If you don’t want anything to happen to the horse listen to me!” Quackity shouted. “Put your weapons down!”

Techno stared in shock at the man who had been scared to death at the sight of Techno just a month or two prior.

“Put your weapons down!”

Techno dropped his axe and unsheathed the sword to do the same. He followed it with his crossbow, quiver, trident, and potion belt.

“I have nothing left.” Techno announced.

“And your armor too!”

Techno bit his tongue before he complained aloud and pulled his armor off; cold winds bit at him the moment he lost the warmth of his fur lined netherite armor.

Ranboo and Tubbo, having been awakened at some point, scooped up his items the instant they hit the ground in front of him.

“Alright, Techno, we’re going to take you back to L’Manburg and you’re going to face trial.”

“Sounds like BS.”

“Do you understand?” Quackity demanded.

Techno sighed. “Yes.”

Quackity smiled at his fellow countrymen. “Fellas, let’s escort him back to L’Manburg.”

\-------------------

A hundred meters away, having witnessed everything, Phil swore under his breath and booked it back towards L’Manburg. Techno needed him there more than Techno needed him to potentially die in a 4v1 for Techno’s sake.

His trident sent him flying through the ocean back to his house- with only the slight hiccup in getting lost on his way back.

He returned to his home and put the shitty ankle monitor back on mere minutes before the Butcher army returned with Techno and Carl in tow.

He perched on his balcony while they walked onto the main plaza. “You actually got him.”

Techno whipped around and stared up at him. “Phil! Phil what did they do to you?”

“They put an ankle monitor on me- I can’t leave my house.”

Techno grimaced. “Leave Phil alone!”

“Alright, alright.” Quackity roughly grabbed Techno’s arm and pulled him away from Phil’s house. “Get on the stage and in the cage.”

He complied, apprehension clear from his posture. “Do I not get to defend myself, first? What is this, a kangaroo court?”

Tubbo locked the cage underneath the death trap behind Techno.

“I feel like this whole trial is a farce and you’ve already determined the outcome.”

Phil clenched and unclenched his hands repeatedly, trying whatever he could to ease the stress building inside him.

“This isn’t actually a trial.” Quackity confirmed.

Phil huffed in anger at Quackity’s audacity.

“When we pull this lever, the anvil is going to fall and it’s going to kill you.”

“This is an execution.” Tubbo confirmed.

“Okay, please start, Mr. President.” Quackity jumped off the stage and sat in the provided seats.

Tubbo cleared his throat. “Techno has robbed out country of everything that made it special, of everything that defined what it was. He stepped in when he shouldn’t have, he craves chaos, he ruined the government- Punz is throwing-”

Punz fell out of the sky and instantly began attacking everyone in sight.

Phil watched Punz scatter sticks of dynamite on the dock around the executioners-to-be in detached horror- if any of them were actually lit the resulting explosion could easily kill Techno, trapped as he was a few meters away. He reached for his bow but froze before he could nock an arrow- everyone stood too close in their frantic attempts to kill Punz and his Flame arrows could set the tnt or the dock on fire.

“Okay- fuck it- fuck it, I’m pulling this lever.” Quackity’s voice was way too clear in Phil’s ears, for how far away he stood.

“Oh- no- no.” Techno pleaded helplessly.

Phil’s blood froze, he screamed something to the heavens, and in a moment of delirium nocked an arrow, drew it back, and fired it at the released anvil. It soared below the 200 pound anvil, which dropped almost faster than the eye could follow. His brain screamed at him to close his eyes but he stared wide-eyed as it fell- images of Wilbur’s bloody corpse haunted him right as-

The anvil hit the wood beneath Techno’s feet with a resounding thud accompanied by a splatter of gore.

\-------------------

There was a moment of darkness after dying before pain and colors exploded into his awareness. It took Techno everything he had not to scream at the pain that wracked his entire body- his right hand in particular felt as if it was being dipped in lava and his head felt rightly as if someone had dropped an anvil on it. Green and yellow exploded out of him and he could only watch in shock as the totem of undying flew out of his right hand, danced in front of him, and vanished.

Techno blinked away the explosion of color to realize he was looking at the ground beneath him. It looked as if a small bomb made out of his own viscera exploded- the ground, the anvil, the cage, and Techno’s own clothes were covered in blood and small chunks of brain matter. He didn’t appear to have left behind a squashed corpse but the sight still nauseated him.

He looked up and didn’t waste a second more, even as his hands shook from the pain that alighted his every nerve. The anvil gave him the extra height he needed to vault over the cage; he tripped for a moment when his aching legs hit the ground, but caught himself and sprinted towards Carl.

Phil cheered behind him even while the Butchers shouted in shock. Both sounds spurred him towards his horse- _who Dream was riding and bringing towards a hill_.

Techno couldn’t risk shouting and alerting the executioners he left behind in various stages of shock so he followed Dream down a tunnel.

“Head down, there’s a chest.” Without another word Dream jumped off Carl and left, blocking the exit as he went.

The tunnel lead to a room labelled ‘The Final Control Room’ and it appeared to have chests with names on them, but Techno beelined to the one with his name on it.

The whole body ache that followed his resurrection began to fade while Techno opened the chests left for him and threw on some iron armor. There was no weapon in the chest- just a netherite pickaxe, thanks, Dream.

“What the fuck is this, Techno?” Techno whipped around at the sound of Quackity’s voice. “What the hell are you doing here?”

“Uhhh, it’s not what it looks like?” Techno tried weakly.

“How the hell did that anvil not kill you?” Quackity demanded.

Techno reached behind him into the chest and began pulling out potions. “Did you really think, Quackity, that you could kill me that easily?”

He could feel his bravado being undermined by the pickaxe shaking lightly in his hand, even as adrenaline replaced the pain.

“How did you do it- what- how did you even do that?”

“Do you really think death could stop me, Quackity?”

The fear Techno expected to appear in Quackity’s eyes didn’t arrive, instead they hardened in anger.

“You know what,” Techno started suddenly, “I tried convincing you guys that government was not the answer- that it was the cause of all your problems, alright? I tried to convince you guys by fighting alongside you as brothers and you just cast me aside- you used me. I tried to use force, but you still formed a government, and when I retired, and swore off violence you hunted me down- you hurt my friends.”

“You don’t understand what we’re trying to build here, Techno.” Quackity countered, rage clear in his stance.

“You’re trying to build your own power.”

“This is not a simple anarchy thing, Techno- that’s what you don’t understand…” He stepped closer to Techno. “Techno, you think I give a shit about the withers? No- you’re on the hit list. I’m building a country here and what we need here is organization and power and I don’t care how long it fucking takes me or what I have to do to get you Techno. I’m going to kill you.”

“I just have one question, Quackity.” Techno fidgeted with the pickaxe.

Quackity leveled his diamond axe towards Techno. “What do you have?”

“Do you think you’re enough to kill me? Even unarmed and with iron armor- do you really think you can take me?” He challenged.

“Let’s fucking find out!” Quackity shouted back.

Techno dodged Quackity’s first too-wide axe swing and sprinted past him. He threw down the potions and turned to face Quackity. The high of resurrection aided his body and mind while he assessed Quackity’s netherite armor for weaknesses- the simplest and most risky would be the man’s face.

“I have a pickaxe and I’ll put it through your teeth- I’ll put it through your teeth, Quackity!” Blood roared in Techno ears during his first real fight to the death since his retirement.

Quackity swung at him again and Techno dodged in favor of learning if a pickaxe could deflect any attack. He didn’t unnecessarily risk the integrity of the pickaxe by swinging at Quackity and continued to dodge swings.

The other man smiled wickedly at Techno’s perceived inability to act and made a fatal mistake. He swung directly downward, burying his axe into the ground and while he looked up Techno swung his pick down, breaking through Quackity’s teeth and burying it in his throat.

Techno took a moment to relish Quackity’s horrified expression before he yanked the pick backwards, dislocating Quackity’s jaw and breaking the bone in half in a single moment alongside ripping out Quackity’s throat.

Quackity fell forward and gargled on his own blood through his ruined mouth. Techno turned him over with his foot and decided to put the man out of his misery with a single strike through Quackity’s right eye- the curved pickaxe impaled his brain hard enough to kill instantly.

Techno yanked the pick out of Quackity’s corpse a moment before it fizzled out of existence, leaving an empty set or armor and a clean diamond axe behind. He ignored the communicator alerting him of Quackity’s death while he shed his own armor and put on Quackity’s. It pressed uncomfortably against his already blood-soaked clothes but he couldn’t be bothered to care while he carefully led Carl through the sewers and eventually back to his house.

\-------------------

Quackity led his Butchers to their secret hideout, missing an eye and with scar tissue decorating his chin. Phil bitterly compared it to the mass of light pink scar tissue Techno had acquired on his head and brutalized ears received after his execution.

To his left Wilbur brought his blue sheep friend over to Phil’s doorway. “Oh, you brought back Techno and Friend.”

“Yeah, everyone’s back in L’Manburg and I’m really happy we’ve got all the family together again, all the friends.” Wilbur glanced back at his sheep. “I wonder where Tommy is- we went past Logstedshire and it was just a big hole.”

Phil’s mood dropped considerably. “It’s just a big hole?”

“Yeah! So, I made Logstedshire and went past it when we were going in the boats and on the way-”

As it was want to do nowadays, it began to rain quite suddenly. Phil hadn’t been in the area very long, but he couldn’t remember a single time it rained before Tommy had been exiled. It seemed as if the heavens had broken open since his exit and attempted to release every drop of water they had stored every time it rained.

Wilbur jumped when the rain hit him. “Can I come inside?”

“Of course.”

Phil made his way downstairs to come face to face with Wilbur’s ghost. He couldn’t stand to look any lower than his grayed, semi-transparent face anymore- but the bloody hole in Wilbur’s chest that only Phil saw bored into his eyes from the edge of his vision.

“So we were on the boats and we went past Logstedshire and the entire place was blown up.”

“Blown up?” Phil parroted as his dread grew.

“It was a big hole, like L’Manburg, but more recent- a recent hole.”

“Oh my god.” Phil whispered.

“But before that happened Dream told me to go and wander off into the wilderness which I did because this was on the day of the beach party- you remember the beach party, Phil. How was that by the way? I didn’t go.”

He frowned. “I didn’t get an invite.”

“Well, I gave out all the invites… and then Dream told me that I wasn’t going to be needed there, which I said ‘that’s fine’ so he told me to go off into the wilderness. It was raining a lot so I had to sit under trees for a while but eventually I came out and found Technoblade and now we’re here.”

“Okay… if Dream gave you invites and nobody got them and he told you to leave… Dream is the one that blew up Logstedshire. That’s… why else would he tell you to-”

“I thought Logstedshire blew up on its own like L’Manburg did.”

Phil did not want to touch the implications of that statement with a ten foot pole at the moment. “We have so much to discuss, Ghostbur, later.”

Only two reasons for Dream to blow up Logstedshire came to Phil’s mind: either Tommy ran away, and Dream blew it up in anger, or Tommy died, and Dream blew it up to cover his death. Questioning Wilbur further would be pointless- the ghost could have seen Tommy’s corpse and then immediately forgotten it because he didn’t want to accept that reality.

“If Logstedshire’s gone now should I take off my boots? ‘Cause I don’t need the soul speed anymore…”

“Why are you wearing boots anyway?”

Wilbur shot Phil a confused look. “So I can get between Tommy and L’Manburg quickly?”

“Can’t you just teleport or, like, fly?”

“Because I’m a ghost?” Wilbur continued after a beat. “No, it’s actually kind of a sad story, so every time I read about ghosts they can walk through walls and stuff- I can’t do that I’m just like everyone else and have to walk, the only difference is that I melt in the rain. I… got the short end of the spectral stick as it were, so this is the type of life that I lead…. Good thing about it is, though, is that I can't die. If you stab me I just come back -oh, sorry- stab me again I just come back and I’m fine. Ya know?”

Phil’s mood plummeted furthermore. “That’s right, you remember that.”

“Yeah.” Wilbur smiled widely. “It was a good memory.”

“Really?”

“Yeah, because you finally put an end to Alivebur, and everyone didn’t like him.”

Phil sighed.

\-------------------

Techno’s warm house appeared on the other side of a snow-covered hill. It looked… blurrier than it should at that distance, but just as warm especially now that his fur lined armor was in the hands of his enemies. He wasted no time urging Carl forwards when he saw an equally blurry figure step out of his house and then back in. At Techno’s command Carl galloped towards the house and came to a stop in front of his small stable.

He hurriedly secured Carl and made to open his front door when it opened to reveal Tommy of all people rushing out of it. The kid _made eye contact_ and without stopping or stuttering broke eye contact, kept walking around the house, and then broke out into a sprint.

“Hey- hey- woah! What are you doing in my house, Tommy?” Techno demanded.

Tommy froze and turned around to face him. “Well… how are you?”

“What are you doing in my house, Tommy?” He repeated.

“How are you?” Tommy brushed past Techno and went into the house.

“What are you doing in my house, Tommy!?”

“You are a bitch that’s the way to put it!” Tommy responded suddenly.

Techno scraped the kid’s armor with his gore-covered pickaxe, causing Tommy to open his mouth and just scream.

“Alright- alright- alright, I can explain!”

“Go ahead.” Techno said after a moment of silence.

“You can’t kill me so stop trying to act so big and-”

“I feel like I actually, really, can kill you.”

Tommy opened one of Techno’s chests. “Yeah, well, I have-”

Techno grabbed Tommy from behind and dragged him away from his stuff. “That’s not what you have that’s what I have!”

“I say it’s not what you have, but what we have.” Tommy wriggled out of Techno’s grip. “Like this is our house.”

“What?”

At that the kid jumped down the ladder to Techno’s basement with Techno hot on his tail.

\-------------------

It took until after sunset before Phil found an opportunity to sneak out of his house after tucking an armor stand wearing the ankle monitor into his bed. He passed Fundy’s empty bed on the way out, and ignored it despite the twinge in his chest at his grandson’s actions.

Theories and speculations raced through Phil's head on his way to Logstedshire, but it didn't prepare him for how horrible the place looked. Holes made by explosions littered the entire area and mostly destroyed structures looked to be on their last legs.

Wilbur had been right about it seeming recent, no more than a day, by Phil's estimate.

And- everything hit Phil at once as he looked at the destroyed Logstedshire. The day's events weighed on him- from witnessing Techno's execution to the emotionally exhausting conversation he had with Wilbur to the possibility that Tommy had been murdered the day before.

Phil wiped his face to feel silent tears on his cheeks. He pulled his hand away and looked at his fingers in confusion. More rolled down his face and he let it happen, and choked out a sob.

A minute passed before he calmed down and picked himself up from where he had fallen to his knees. He needed to focus- best case scenario Phil needed to start tracking Tommy and worse case he needed to figure out how to tear Dream limb from limb.

Phil started with what looked like the main structure nestled in the edge of the forest, next to two hideous towers Tommy was fond of building. Instantly he noticed three unique sets of shoe prints dug into the soft dirt that had been disturbed by the explosion. Dream's weird, distinctive gait was easy to pick out, as his footprints always had more pressure at the front of his foot. He had three sets of footprints, two leading to and fro the explosion and one leading away from the explosion- the latter had been partially covered by loose dirt and, if Phil was right, Dream had walked away while the TNT exploded.

The second unique shoe prints Phil couldn't identify but the creator appeared to be around 5' 5" and Phil's mind immediately went to Tubno- but he had no evidence to think about it further. The tracks had no correlation with the others besides walking on the same paths in Logstedshire.

The final prints, to Phil's instant relief, belonged to Tommy's custom made shoes. He had five sets of prints, one leading away from Logstedshire's main structure while it exploded and appeared to follow Dream's set made at the same time. The other four sets of Tommy's shoe prints went to and fro the structure twice, and seemed to have no correlation to Dream's sets. In fact, it appeared as if Dream was observing Tommy's footprints in the same manner Phil was.

This shattered both of Phil's previous assumptions, to his relief. Tommy had left Logstedshire after Dream blew it up and Dream was now tracking Tommy down. Upon closer inspection Dream's footprints had less rain in them than Tommy's- Dream had gone to Logstedshire after Techno's execution, been caught in the rain, realized Tommy had left, and could very well be tracking Tommy as Phil investigated.

Phil wasted no time inspecting any of the other structures in Logstedshire. The rain caused a lot of mud in the area, making Dream's shoe prints much easier to follow than Tommy's which had been mostly washed away at that point. Following Dream led him through multiple biomes before leading into a snowy biome Phil recognized. Dream appeared to have wandered in it after Tommy's prints were covered by the snow and eventually lost interest and began looping back to Logstedshire.

Realizing he'd hit the same dead end Dream had- Tommy hadn't appeared to have stopped and made shelter anywhere nearby and all evidence of his path was covered by the freshly fallen snow- Phil gave up the search in favor of going towards Techno's house.

If Tommy knew Techno was nearby he'd head there, for no reason other than that he knew Techno.

The tension fell out of Phil's shoulders at the sight of Tommy's shoe prints not yet covered by snow mixed in and side by side with Techno's odd Piglin gait. Carl also stood in his small stable, confirming that Techno returned safely as well.

Phil had to return to his house as fast as possible and so did not bother knocking on Techno's door and disturbing him. He was satisfied with the fact that they were okay, and taking care of each other.

The clock on the wall of Phil's bedroom claimed it to be two am by the time Phil returned and tore off his armor. After confirming that Fundy's bed was still empty he pushed the armor stand off his bed and collapsed onto it.

The day hadn't turned out too badly after all- all things considered.

\-------------------

“Now that we’re going to be working together, Tommy, I have something to show you- that I haven’t shown anyone yet.” Techno said after they had both calmed down from Tommy squatting in his house.

“Right now?”

“No, tomorrow, I’m exhausted, in pain, and hungry.”

Tommy perked up at the last one. “Can you cook- wait, why are you in pain? Did you fight people while you were out all day?”

“I was executed.” Techno replied bitterly.

“Really? You look alive to me- your head’s still attached- that’s what they do during executions, right?” Tommy leaned in to inspect his face.

Techno shook his head. “No- just- hold on.”

He quickly began removing the armor, which involved a lot of unsticking it from his blood-soaked clothes. Tommy made noises of shock and fear at the sight of him.

"Whose blood is that!?"

"Mine."

"What the fuck- are you hurt?"

Techno hooked the chestplate, leggings, and boots he took from Quackity's corpse onto the armor stand.

"Not anymore." The shaking and residual pain everywhere but his head had stopped.

He held his right palm out for Tommy to see the deep scars the totem had left. "Totem of Undying. It brought me back, not good as new, but good enough."

"Oh yeah, I heard about those from Phil."

Techno nodded and removed his helmet.

"Holy shit! You got ugly as fuck!" Tommy shouted.

"Thanks." Techno glared at him and put the helmet away before looking at the mirror next to the armor stand.

A big mass of light pink scar tissue covered his pink skin and jagged lines of it spread down his skull- the back of his neck, beside his ears- and down half his face, stopping just before it reached his snout. Techno reached up and touched his long porcine ears- ripped at about half their previous length- and felt the scar tissue there.

"Jesus H Christ!" Tommy shouted, again. "Did they bash your skull in?"

"Close enough." Techno snorted and let his hand fall to his side. "They dropped an anvil on my head."

"Brutal!"

"Yeah, it wasn't enough to stop me, though. Now, can you go somewhere else I need to change my clothes and cook without being bothered by a child incessantly."

"Hey!"

All things considered- this was still one of the worst days of Technos’ life.

**Author's Note:**

> Absolutely pogging over the latest streams lmao


End file.
